4 



EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 



with several thousand trees. Also several types of management were 

 included. While the farms were selected on the basis of individual op- 

 erators who were willing to co-operate by keeping records, it is thought 

 that the 40 farms are fairly representative of the commercial industry. 



MATURE TREE EQUIVALENTS | 



1500 



1000 



500 



INDIVIDUAL FARMS 



Figure 1. — Distribution of farms by mature tree equivalent 



Figure 1 indicates the distribution of the 40 orchards according to 

 size, as measured by mature-tree equivalent 1 . Based on the normal yield 

 curve determined in an earlier study the expected yield for the 40 or- 

 chards, in 1932, was 132,632 bushels and on individual farms the yield 

 ranged from 402 to 10608 bushels. This gives an approximate measure 

 of the size of the enterprises. (Figure 2.) 



Comparison of actual and expected yield 



The yields expected by the operator are important in spraying op- 

 erations, and orchardists sometimes adjust their practices, especially the 

 late sprays if the crop is small. On 27 farms representing 82 orchard 

 crop years, records were available for comparison of the expected yield 

 as measured by the normal yield curve and the actual yield. The actual 

 yields for the period were 15 per cent above expected yields or 312,292 

 boxes of commercial apples as compared to the expected yield of 271,607 

 boxes. 



Since the normal curve was constructed on the basis of a six-bushel 

 yield on mature trees the actual yield on these orchards averaged 6.9 

 bushels. The average yields on nine farms were below the normal yield 

 and nine farms were 50 per cent or more above. The ratio of the 

 average actual yields to expected yields on individual farms ranged from 

 55 to 290 per cent. (See Figure 3.) 



Individual orchards fluctuated greatly from year to year. For in- 

 stance, on one orchard, yields were 239, 64, 109, and 34 per cent of 



bulletin 257 — Studies in Economics of Apple Orcharding by H. C. Woodworth and G. F. 

 Potter. 



